tour de france teaser

velogames fantasy tour de france

here is my team line up:

	Rider / Cost	Team
	Andy SCHLECK [24]	LEO
	Tony MARTIN [10]	THR
	David MONCOUTIÉ [10]	COF
	Vasil KIRYIENKA [8]	MOV
	Mark CAVENDISH [20]	THR
	Sylvain CHAVANEL [8]	QST
	Fabian CANCELLARA [8]	LEO
	Thomas VOECKLER [6]	EUC
	David MILLAR [6]	GRM

who is in your team?  join the velorunner velogames fantasy tour league using the password given below and win a £50 gift voucher courtesy of urban hunter:

velogames
league name: velorunner
league code: 28080808

use the league code to enter the league by clicking on an open spot on your team roster's "mini-league manager" section.

you can reach your team roster by going back the the main page and clicking on the team name in the right-hand panel of each screen when you are logged in.

after clicking on an open league spot, you will then be asked to enter the league code to sign up your team into the league.

the £50 gift voucher from urban hunter will be awarded to the team that finishes first overall at the end of the tour.  oh yes and only one team per person please. good luck!

tour de france: velo cycling figures

staying with the toy de france flavour, i had a nice surprise arrive for me in the post today. richard from urban hunter very kindly sent me a couple of tour de france figures, one in the colours of the maillot jaune, the other in the red with white cross of switzerland.  they have now taken pride of place on the top of my record shelf.

made in france by a company that has been producing them since the 1930's each figure is hand painted and stands approx 5 cms tall by 5 cms long.

other figures can be seen and purchased over at urban hunter.  also keep a look out for the launch of their new website in the coming weeks.  thanks richard!

stage 11

tour de france 1997 – stage 11. gap-marseille 219km.  seen at aerodinamica.

yesterday's bike ride

until yesterday it had been two weeks since i last went out on a proper bike ride. it felt so good to be out on a light weight road bike again after the effort of using my heavy commuter bike. i felt a bit like a dog who had not been let out for a walk in a long time. to be let off the proverbial leash was a good feeling made to feel even better by some sunny weather.

the weather recently has been something similar to sun, rain, sun, rain, sun, rain, sun, rain and so on but thankfully this last weekend, or at least sunday was dry and a beautiful day to go for a ride. i am a confirmed fair weather cyclist and will only venture out when it is raining if i absolutely have to, such as commuting to work although even then i will draw the line at very heavy rain.

yesterday was a fine day though and made for the perfect opportunity for me to join velo club walcot on their informal sunday morning ride. heading out with them is great because they have such in-depth knowledge of the roads and lanes compared to me who has little knowledge of the local geography, although i am picking it up slowly.

i am so excited to be able to discover new places every time i go out now, it is a bit like being on holiday but i live here. london is cool and i always liked living there (all 18 years!), but the cycling in and around london does not compare to what i have on my doorstep. it is no accident betty and i ended up moving to bath.  for me consideration of cycling terrain played a big part in the process of deciding where to move to. in this respect, as i am finding with many other aspects of our new life, i am realising we made the right choice.

suisse test shots

tyler hamilton on 60 minutes

i know this is old news but today was the first time i have had a chance to watch the recently aired tyler hamilton interview on american television's news magazine program 60 minutes.  maybe i come over as jumping on the beat on lance bandwagon by blogging it but who cares?  what tyler has to say is too interesting not to share.

1964 ducati trials bike

my good friend dave and i took our mountain bikes and rode along a very beautiful section of the kennet and avon canal yesterday, between bath and avoncliff, which is only a stones through from bradford-upon-avon, home to alex moulton's moulton bicycle company.

it was motorbikes not bicycles though that became the topic of conversation as we cycled back from lunch at the cross guns pub.  i hit the breaks as soon as i got close to the stunning trials motorbike that was standing on a grass verge next to the canal side along with it's very proud owner ant crosby who was kind enough to tell us all about the ducati that he had lovingly restored and re-built.  he even let me have a sit on it!

according to ant it is a pre 1965 trials bike that was commissioned by an american trials bike rider in late 1963 for ducati to build for him as a one off.  it is the only one in the world and ant has put a price tag on it of £40,000.  i said to ant that if i won the lottery i would buy it off him and start riding motorbikes.  it really is a head turner.

if you would like ant crosby to build / restore you a motorbike he can be contacted on +44 (0)7584 282976.

ant with his 1964 ducati trials motorbike which he restored to mint condition himself

we all ride

artwork by mike joos.